Stay Awake But Not Scared

(Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash)

Ever since the beginning of time people have been trying to guess when the world will come to an end. There have been theories, conspiracies, educated guesses, uneducated guess, debates, arguments and even, unfortunately, deaths in relation to folks trying to figure it all out.

Like with all things in life, rather than worry about it, all we really have to do is turn to scripture to see what it says. Jesus makes it quite clear actually in the book of Mark chapter 13.

"And Jesus began to say to them, 'See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in My name saying, 'I am He!' and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed, This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains." - Mark 13:5-8

"But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." - Mark 13:32-33

There is a lot written in there but the just of it to me is; we need to stop guessing. It does us no good. No one knows the hour except the Father. So being the worlds biggest control freak doesn't matter with this subject! So, what do we do? Jesus tells us in verse 37...

"And what I say to you I say to all; Stay awake!"

You may look around you and think, "This HAS to be the end! Just look at the state of the world!". Wars, famines, pandemics, division, hatred, control, fear. It's all very relevant! But like Jesus said, these are the beginning of the birth pains.

As a Mom of three daughters, I am quite familiar with birth pains. They are there for a reason. It's our body telling us to get ready! It's about to go through something quite traumatic and so we need to be prepared. Without the birth pains, we have no way to be ready. This is why Jesus refers to it in this way. The Father is telling us to be prepared for what is to come. But He doesn't WANT us to know the hour. He wants us to be READY! When you know that Jesus could knock on your door at any moment, your house is ready ALL the time. This is how we should be. Alert.

How exactly to we prepare?

There are things we need to be doing...

Repent.

Accept Jesus Christ into your heart.

Pray.

READ HIS WORD! <--- when Jesus says that many will come in His name, He means it. There are false prophets all around and MANY will claim to be Jesus! And in the end days, they will be EVERYWHERE. He said so!

How will you be able to discern what is true and who is telling you the truth if you don't know God's Word? The simple answer is, you won't. It's so important to have wisdom and you can only find that by asking God to give it you as you read scripture and study the Bible. Ask Him to open your heart and your mind as you read it.

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. - Proverbs 2:6

Be on alert but not scared. If you're found in Christ, there is nothing to be scared of. God is in control. He's patient with us and loves us and is giving us ample time to get ready so it's never too late for you to repent and draw near to God.